CANBERRA - Natural disasters cost the Australian economy billions of dollars in the first months of 2025, according to government data.

In an analysis published on Monday, the federal Treasury said that natural disasters in the first five months of 2025 caused a 2.2 billion Australian dollar ($1.4 billion) decline in economic activity.

Over the five-month period to the end of May, Australia's east coast states of New South Wales and Queensland were hit by widespread historic flooding and Cyclone Alfred became the first cyclone to hit southeast Queensland in 50 years when it made landfall in March.

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Other parts of the country were also hit by severe storms, cyclones and bushfires during the period.

The Treasury analysis said that nominal retail trade in Queensland fell by 0.3 percent in February and by 0.4 percent in March.

Separate data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in May said that household spending across Australia was flat in the first three months of the year and was down by 0.2 percent in Queensland.

The Treasury data was released ahead of the national accounts data for the first three months of 2025, which will be published by the ABS on Wednesday.

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"The human impacts matter to us most, but the economic cost is very significant too, and we'll see that in Wednesday's national accounts," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Monday.

He said that the progress made by Australians to lower inflation, unemployment and the national debt meant that the government was in a "stronger position" to support communities affected by disasters.